The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-07-22


Kings, multitudes Of the saiuthood rush
ing out ::and stretching forth hands Of
welcome: for do really think that - on
the right hand Of God 10 Christ % on the
right hand Of Christ - Paul, the second
great in Heaven.
He changed kings likewise. Before the
hour Of death. and MP to the last moment,
he was under Nero, the thick-necked, the
cruel-eyed, the dlthylipped. the scalp.
tured features OF that man bringing
down to u to this very day the horrible
possibilities Of his nature-seated - he
was amidst pictured marbles Of Egypt,
under roof adorned with mother-of-
pearl, in . dining room which, by ma
chinery, was kept whirling day and night
with most bewitching magnincsncs, his
horses standing in stalls Of solid gold,
and the ground around his palace lighted
at night by his victims, who had been
daubed with tar and pitch and then set ON
Ore to illuminate the darkness. That was
Paul's king. But the next moment he
goes into the realm Of him whose reign ID
love, and whose courts are paved with
love, and whose throne 10 set on
pillars Of love, and whose scepter
10 adorned with jewels Of love and
whose palace 10 lighted with love, and
whose lifetime ID an eternity Of love.
When Paul was leaving 50 much on this
side the pillar Of martyrdom to gain so
much on the other side, do you wonder At
the cheerful valedictorv Of the text:
The time Of my departure Is Ut hand.
Now, why can not all the old people Of
this congregation have the same holy
glee as that aged man hadl Charles L,
when he was combing his head, found .
gray hair, and he sent 1t to the Queen - .
great joks; but old age 10 really no Joke
at all. For the last forty FEARS you have
been dreading that whit b ought to have
been an exhilaratlon. You say you most
fear the struggle at the moment the soul
and body part. But millions have endured
that moment, and why not we a. well
They got through with It, and so can We.
Beside this, all medical men agree in say
ing that there is probably NO struggle at
all at the last moment-not 80 much pain
as the prick Of pin, the seeming signs Of
distress being altogether Involuntary.
But you say:
ut is the uncertainty Of the future"
Now, child Of God, do not play the infidel.
After God has filed the Bible till It can
hold no more with stories Of the good
things ahead, better not talk about uncer-
tainties- But you say:
II can not hear to think Of parting from
friends here"
II you are old you have more friends in
Heaven than here. Just take the census.
TsKe some largo sheet of paper and begin
to record the names Of those who have
emigrated to tho other shore-the COM
panions Of your school days, your early
business associates, the friends Of middle
life, and those who more recently went
away.
Can it be that they have been gone so
long you do not care any more about
them, and you do not want their society!
Oh, mol There have been days when you
have felt that you could not en-
dure it another moment away from
thoir blessed com partnership. They have
gone. You say you would not like to
bring them back to this world of trouble,
even il you had the power. It would not
do to trust you. God would not give you
resurrection power. Before tomorrow
morning you would be rafting at the
gates of the cemetery, crying to the de-
parted:
"Come back to the cradle where you
slept! come back to the hall where you
used to playi come back TO the table
where you used to sit r. and there would
he great burglary in Heaven. No, mol
God will not trust you with resurrection
power, but he compromises the matter
and saws:
"You can not bring them where you
are, but you can go where they are"
They are more lovely now than ever.
Were thew beautiful here, they are more
beautiful there.
Beside that, it is more healthy there for
you than here, aged man; better climate
there than these hot summers and cold
winters and late springs; better hearing;
better eye-sight; more tonic in the air;
more perfume in the bloom; more sweet
man, sometimes, as though you would
like to get your arm and foot freel Do
you not feel as though you would like to
throw awav spectacles and canes and
crutchesi Would you not like to feel the
spring and elasticity and mirth Of an
eternal boyhood! When the point at
which you start from this world is old
age, and the point to which you 20 is
eternal juvenescence. aged man, clap
your hands at tho anticipation, and say in
perfect rapture Of soul:
Tho time Of my departure IL at hand.
Iremark. again, all these ought to feel
this joy Of the text who have . holy
curiosity to know what Is beyond this
earthly terminus. And who has not any
curiosity about lit Paul, I suppose, had
tho most satisfactory view Of Heaven, and
he says:
at doth not yet appear what We shall
b."
It IL like looking through . broken
telescope: "Now We see through glass
darkly."
Can you tell mo any thing about that
heavenly placel You ask mo thousand
questions about It that I can not answer.
I ask you . thousand questions about 1t
that you can not answer. And DO you
wonder that Paul was 50 glad when
martyrdon gave him . chance to 70 over
ard make discoveries In that blessed
countryi
hope some day. BY the grace Of God.
to 30 over and see for myself, but not
now. No well man, NO prospered man.
think, wants to 20 now. But tho time
will come, think, when shall 70 over.
want to see what the; do there, aud /
wan. to SEQ how they do it I do not
want to be looking through the gates ajar
forever. ! want them TO swing wide
open. There arc ton thousand things /
want explainei-about you. about my
SELF. about the government Of this world,
about God, about every thing. We start
in plain path Of what We know, and in
minute como up against high wall Of
whist We do not know. wonder how II
looks over there. Somebody tolls me It il
like . paved city-paved with gold, and
another man tells ne 1t 10 like . fount-
ain and It 10 like . tree and II
10 like . triumphsl procession, and the
next man I meet tells me 1t II all Ag.
urative. Ireally want 70 know, after tho
bodv ID resurrected, what they wear and
what they eat: and I have IN inmeasur-
able curiosity to know what 1t II and how